Thousands of lost Atlantic City casino jobs coming back

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - Atlantic City, New Jersey, is trying to put years of casino closings and job losses behind it.

Since 2014, five of its 12 casinos have closed, putting 11,000 people out of work.

For many laid-off workers, the first step on the road to recovery started Tuesday, when the shuttered former Trump Taj Mahal casino began interviewing job applicants for its reincarnation this summer as a Hard Rock casino resort.

The event was for former Taj employees. About 1,600 such workers were invited to apply for jobs, and 1,400 did.

Former Taj dealer Monica Weekes described herself during her interview as "fun first."

Hard Rock will create more than 3,000 jobs. And the former Revel casino is reopening as the Ocean Resort casino and will add thousands more.